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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2888 |
10th June 2016 Hiking - Walking: Madone de Fenestre to Baisse de Cinq Lacs Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny periods with only very light rain in evening. Max Speed: Distance Covered: 6 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Friday 10th June –Hike ***** Madone de Fenestre (5900ft) to Baisse de Cinq Lacs (7692ft) sunny periods with only very light rain in evening. 6hrs 40 mins out covering 6 miles Quiet night in our lay-by on a tight bend just down the road from ‘God World’ that is the Madone de Fenestre! They just love building dark and scary churches up dead end roads in the middle of nowhere! Woke at seven in the shade but above clear blue sky and the rain and strong winds from last evening had disappeared with hardly a breath. So we know the score - up early and head to the top of the mountain and hope you don’t get wet on the way down when it usually clouds up and rains. After breakfast I packed a more substantial picnic of left over French bread with cheese, cake and strawberries and a flask of coffee, with just one bottle of water as we could top this up in a stream en-route:) Left the van at 8:30 as several cars headed to the top carparks to start their hikes. Had to walk 400 yards up the road to the start which had a map board. I had already taken a pic of this the day before so we would know the route – that makes a change to know where we are going! The path climbed steadily for an hour through Mags favourite green Larch trees, along yet another stream trying to spot the odd birds in the trees but they were few and far between. The trees thinned out as we entered a huge grassy bowl surrounded by mountains which looked perfect Marmot terrain and we were not disappointed seeing at least 30, getting really close to many before they scampered off:) The path turned left and got steeper and we again had water running down from the top a sure sign that the lacs we were heading for were above, it was here we saw our first Chamois. It was a steep slog to the top but we were not disappointed to find yet another lovely mountain lac which looked crystal clear and stunning the bright sunshine and blue skies:) A hiker whose tracks we had been following but not seen was on the path out of the lacs and a young couple were doing yoga above the first lac! We turned right and went and found a small lac all to ourselves as we expected several hikers to turn up coming up from the other side. It was such a lovely warm sunny day at this point that we decided to take a leaf from the yoga couples book and do our exercises but half way through the sky clouded over turning black in places and it became chilly:( also several other hikers arrived but only one couple made it as far as us. We then had our still delicious bread and cheese before walking around the small plateau discovering there was 5 Lacs in total and we counted 14 other hikers enjoying picnics around the first lac including a young couple with their baby in a special rucksack! Having spent two hours there we headed up a steep slope to what looked like a small col and the exit which was called the Baisse de Cinq Lacs (2335m) crossing our first small section of snow. The views from there were fantastic - back you could see all of the lacs and in front the craggy peaks towards the church! There was two more Chamois here, a mother and a youngster, and they walked in front of us not bothered at all. The scenery was completely different this side, much more steep and ragged so it turned out to be a real rocky scramble in the end. We stopped by another little stream for cake and strawberries before heading down the steepest section. With the hard part out of the way we came across a field full of dead and weather beaten trees with absolutely amazing markings, made even better by yet another Chamois running off. We could see a nice waterfall just up to the right and we made a small detour for a closer look and I got some lovely pics of a Marmot right by the falls:) After a short break it was past the Vacherie - no cows here today and down the road to our van, yet another top day in the mountains out 6hrs 40 mins covering 6 miles. Back at the van we had drink and cake outside but it got cool so retired inside to read have more snacks, crispy rolls and cheese before pasta for tea and a game of Phase 10 I actually beat Mag for the first time this holiday but she is still leading 3-1!!! It got very dark but only rained very lightly today. Photo Gallery Here Saturday 11th June – Relax, little travel and couple of strolls – sunny periods with no rain :) Our second night at the Madone de Fenestre and our plan was to relax, so no hurry to get up today, did exercises and I managed to find a spot in the sun just up from the van but it was hazy in the end and by breakfast time it had turned chilly:( We packed up and drove back down to the little supermarket at St-Martin pushing the boat out with another punnet of strawberries and a rotisserie chicken:) My plan was to drive to Authion another small ski resort but as usual we were distracted when we saw a sign to a cross country resort above Belvedere and what a ride it turned out to be, this must be the longest dead end road we have ever been on! It just went up and up and on and on getting narrower as we went, hoping we would not meet anything coming the other way! We passed Belvedere and it certainly lived up to its name, there were Alpine houses everywhere but luckily the roads were very quiet, then we came across a lovely waterfall as we neared St Grat. This is in the middle of nowhere, there is hardly a road anywhere for miles around but this little hamlet boasts two hotels. The road went straight up a long valley and the road was covered in cow mess, on rounding a corner we saw the locals having lunch on the side of the road after taking their cattle to the mountain pastures:) The road continued going up following the stream, past the dammed lac for a hydro-electric to a large carpark at the end of the road. We were expecting a quiet spot with no one about but the car park was crammed full with about 100 vehicles!!! We couldn’t believe it - there were stunning views up the valley with huge snow covered mountains but we were a bit put off by the cars. On looking about there were next to no people just a couple of families having a picnic by the stream- everyone else was off hiking. So we took our chicken down to the water’s edge by the bridge for delicious chicken and baguette:) We were joined by a couple of French fly fisherman who were really entertaining, the expert soon caught a tiny trout and then the learner caught a bigger one, he was ecstatic saying that was his first ever and he had only been taught this morning. We read in the sun for a while but then it went in and we got chilly so headed back to the van for a cuppa just as a couple returned from a hike, their car was in a great position at the front by the river so as we had driven miles to get there we decided to move over and stay the night. After a warming coffee we decided to go for a walk and learned from the notice boards that this is a famous spot firstly because high above here in the Merveilles Valley there are some Bronze age etchings, the down side is that it is a 4 hour hike away up a steep path to over 2500m!!!! then miles up the valley and the etchings are high above the path! And secondly there is another walk the other way to Lacs and refuges!!! I was really torn and didn’t know what to do? I would love to see the Bronze age stuff as they looked amazing but it might be just out of our range and we could go to the lacs – what a decision? We decided to check out what was about but were not sure which way to go, firstly we tried up towards the Bronze age stuff but that was steep and seemed a waste of energy so we stopped after 10min , taking in the good views down the valley to the lac. We then tried the other way following closely the mountain stream. We soon spotted Chamois up above us and were treated to a real spectacle as two males had a right go as one chased the other away. The loser found himself by the edge of the stream with no option but to leap across using boulders as stepping stones and I managed to get a cracking shot of it in mid-air:) Several hikers were returning along this path now. We came across a quaint little stone hut built into the side of a huge rock. Intrigued we headed over and discovered it was ’Belle and Sebastian’s Cabin’ from a famous TV series for kids from 1965 and one of Mag’s favourites when she was little:) We continued along the stream for a while clambering over the rocks before returning the van for another cuppa. Luckily for us we met a lovely couple from Belgium who stopped to chat. They were absolutely exhausted after an 9 hour hike and were looking for a Hostel, hotel or Refuge to spend the night, we pointed them down the valley towards St Grat but not before theytold us that finding the Bronze age stuff might be difficult because there was still a lot of snow high up. We have had enough near death adventures in snow this holiday so will head the other way tomorrow if the weather is good. They also explained why the car park is so full, it’s the first weekend that the mountain refuges are open so everyone has set off to the back of beyond to spend a night in the middle of nowhere – how exciting:) With energy to spare we then set off down the valley past a fisherman’s pick-up with an adorable puppy tied in the back, past the humming hydro plant, around the crystal clear lac to the dam and then down the river looking for a bridge spotting a Roe deer in the woods. We came to a large wooded bridge across the river as a Dipper headed upstream and saw a sign about skiing pistes which must be the cross county track in the winter. We found ourselves just above one of the Gite/Hotels and saw that they had lots of customers too – a very good weekend for business around here! It was then a steady climb back to the van with Chamois everywhere:) We had nice chicken and potatoes for tea as several Chamois came really close to the van and were jumping across the river. It is dark now and there must be nearly 30 cars still in the carpark, the refuge must be rocking tonight!!!! |
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